The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A LAWYER challenging cannabis related convictions of Rastafarians says their cultivation and use of the substance should be unrestricted when the government changes the law on cannabis possession.

The Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana’s leaked draft preliminary report recommends possession of up to one ounce of marijuana be decriminalised.

But Wayne Munroe, QC, said yesterday: “Certainly you can’t dictate to a Rastafarian how much marijuana he must consume in a day. You cannot force him to get it from anywhere and the most the government should be concerned about is that sacramental marijuana doesn’t make it outside of that use and so that’s a matter of control in terms of assessing its production and making sure that all that’s produced is used for religious purposes.”

In Jamaica, where it is a criminal offence to have more than two ounces of cannabis, possession of the substance for religious purposes is unrestricted.

The BNCM’s draft report falls short of recommending the same but says: “The Bahamas government may wish to consider granting Rastafarians the right to use cannabis for religious use, in privacy.”

The group recommends  Rastafarian children under 18 not be allowed to use cannabis. It calls for a Rastafarian Council to be established to advise the government of people who have been identified as Rastafarians in order to expose those who falsely claim to be Rastafarian just to use the substance.

The commission recommends that sacramental use of marijuana take place in established zones where Rastafarians could have free rein to cultivate the substance.

In June 2019, Mr Munroe filed a writ in the Supreme Court seeking to have all criminal convictions related to Rastafarian possession, cultivation and supply of Indian Hemp since 1963 wiped out.

He cited significant persecution for which Rastas demand redress, from unconstitutional search of people and their homes on suspicion of hemp possession to unconstitutional cutting of Rastas’ locks in prison.

The plaintiffs want compensatory and vindicatory damages for breaches of their rights under Articles 15, 21, 22 and 26 of the Constitution.

Attorney General Carl Bethel has said the lawsuit has poor prospects of success.

“Within a week or two we should have our statement of claim finished, filed and served and then the government’s side would have to file their defence,” Mr Munroe said yesterday. “After that point we go to case management before a judge and then a judge would set a timeline and directions for a trial.

“The case is not affected by the government’s report. From the point of our first Constitution in 1963, Rastafarians had a right to practice their religion including the consumption of cannabis.

“Because their rights were oppressed, they have historic claims, they have claims to say their rights were abused for all of this period and we want compensation for that period. If we have corrected that, the next step is going forward if the court finds we were oppressed you have to stop oppressing us and we’ll ask the court for orders in that regard.

“I haven’t read the draft report so I don’t know what the government proposes in regard to sacramental marijuana. I’ve seen some of it and it seems not to apprehend what the law is. For instance, there is this context of legalisation of medical marijuana. It’s always been legal, just like medicinal cocaine has always been legal. I don’t know how they intended to approach the sacramental use of marijuana.”